


Anya's Demons

by TrulyVisceral



Category: Anya's Ghost
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-24
Updated: 2016-06-24
Packaged: 2018-07-18 00:13:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7291816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrulyVisceral/pseuds/TrulyVisceral
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thomas Rochesteire. Graduated highschool at 13 years old due to Eidetic Memory. Earned the highest degree of black belts across several different martial arts and has won several competitions. Used said training to become a self proclaimed vigilante at night, completely erasing several gangs and crime rings from the entire state he lives in... yet no one knows who he is. Although this doesn't bother him, he is bored out of his skull, for life has nothing that makes him actually feel alive... Until he comes across a certain event, late at night, involving a peculiar Russian girl...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Anya's Demons

**Chapter 1: Meeting**

 

You were never one for crowds. Something about them made you feel... Uncomfortable.  It's not that you don't go out, it's not that you don't have friends, you aren't that weird guy people spread rumors about, it's just that you never felt the need to go out and talk to people, you always enjoyed spending time at the quiet library, reading something about mystery or fantasy, or some time alone with your older brother or friends playing videogames in your room, or a small walk through the park in the early hours of the morning or late at night, when it is the quietest and loneliest... Until that one time.

 

You don't really remember why you even went there, you were having a stroll through the park late at night and noticed a stone road at the far back, and you just suddenly thought "hey, Wasn't there a clearing or something over this path?" and so you went onto the rocky road, around some hills and some thick bushes, and true enough, there was a huge clearing, devoid of trees and bushes, leaving only a field of dandelions that weren't yet close to blooming. You laid down on the grass and looked up to the sky, and being so far away from all of the lights of the town, the sky was pretty much singing to you. The stars were blinking, some white some blue, others red, was that the big dipper? It was beautiful, of course you were coming back later... And then, out of absolutely nowhere, a scream, a girl, so loud even though you know for sure it was miles away your ears were ringing. Immediately you jerk up and stagger for a moment, trying to figure out where the scream came from and you start running at full speed towards it. This kind of scenario wasn't too different from what you normally do, it would probably be some random thug robbing some poor unfortunate girl, you'd arrive, beat the snot out of them, get thanked (or not, as in most scenarios the person you helped is too afraid to stay put) and you'd be on your merry way. Your brother even went as far as to make you a superhero uniform, just because he thought it would be hilarious... But this, this is not something you knew how to deal with, and you don't think anyone would.

 

You arrive to the area you thought the scream came from; around the same area there was some hole in the ground, a well perhaps? You decide to hide on a tree, and scout the area... And the second you spot the one screaming, you freeze on the spot. Let’s try to study this calmly shall we? There was a girl, pale skin, freckles, long black hair, wearing regular outdoor clothes and a hair band, she looks like she hurt her right hand, judging from the bandage, and chasing her was… something. A large white figure loomed over her, it’s like mist became sentient and decided to attack some random person, but as you study the white haze a bit more you realize… it’s another girl. She was huge, about the size of a pickup truck and she seemed pissed at the girl, almost like blood was about to be spilled. With you still unable to react, the scared girl throws something into the well, and the ghost (?) girl falls down with it. The second the 1st girl turns around and starts to leave, you snap back into reality… and proceed to panic.

 

What in the world had just happened? Did you just see irrefutable proof that ghost are real? Did you just witness an exorcism? You start getting down from the tree, still unnoticed by the girl, and then you see something coming up from the well. It’s a skeleton, of all things, yet something was off… the skeleton was surrounded by a white haze, the same the ghost-demon thing was made of a minute ago, possession perhaps? The girl becomes terrified yet again and starts to run… but stops and turns around, “I won’t run anymore” she said to the animated skeleton. She says some more words to the skeleton girl, but you have no idea what she’s talking about, you couldn’t know them? Deciding who lives and who dies? What was happening? You were too curious to act (totally not scared shitless from witnessing a freakin’ ghost), and simply stay put, still unnoticed by either party. The last words the girl says are “what you want doesn’t even exist” and the skeleton girl, now looking… defeated? Simply turns into a formless mist and rises up to the sky, and the now lifeless skeleton falls back down into the well.

 

The girl simply stares at the sky for a few minutes, and then turns around and leaves without any further words. And you, still confused at what you had just witnessed, also decide to leave. You wait a little while for the girl to walk a fair distance, you don’t want her noticing you leaving right after and maybe realizing that you saw what had just happened. You leave the park after taking a look down the well, dark emptiness, and the darkness of the night doesn’t help. As you leave, you try to recollect your thoughts, who was that girl? Who was that ghost? Why was she being haunted? Why in the world did you have to run into this when all you wanted was to have some sleep on a calm grassy field? And as you think all of this, it is now that you realize, you actually know the pale girl.

 

You don’t remember her name, mainly because it was never said, but she moved in some years ago to a house on the same street as yours, you saw her behind her mother’s legs (or at least you think that’s her mother) as she greeted your guardians at the time. You never really exchanged words, but you remember the mother saying that they weren’t from the USA, but no real traits stood out that made you guess where they were from, besides the mother’s accent. You remember seeing her every day in the morning walking to the bus stop, and sometimes she is followed by a little boy who you assume is her little brother. Hopefully, later you’ll be able to ask her about what had happened.

 

After a short walk you arrive home, pull out your keys and unlock the door, you turn to your right to see that the girl’s house’s lights are on, she probably just arrived. As you come in you hear an energetic “Welcome back!” as your older brother jumps out of the kitchen to greet you, wearing pajamas and oven mittens, he’s probably making cupcakes or something, he always does that late at night for some reason.

This is Maximus, though for some reason he wants to be called “Vic”, he’s basically a man-child who won’t ever stay still or stop talking. He has a girlfriend, Sharie, she also lives in the house but spends a lot of her time outside, she’s an acrobat or something but you have never seen her do anything that would indicate so, except maybe that time she did a perfect split because she slipped on some water on the floor, well I mean, she has won trophies. Also, Vic just so happens to have a PHD in just about every field of science! How and why he got them is beyond you, but the real question is why in the world he doesn’t live in a giant mansion on a hill overlooking the sea, like iron man or something. “Hey! You alright? You look like you saw a ghost or something!” he says, while you are still standing at the doorway, “Maybe that’s exactly what happened” you tell him, well, it’s not like you are lying. He gasps in an exaggerated manner and starts bombarding you with question after question

 

-“Did you film it? How did it look like? Did it have horns? Did it possess someone?” and such.

-“Jesus dude, calm down, I’m exaggerating! I just helped some girl that was being chased”

-“Oh, well then…” he sounds disappointed. “Did you use the uniform?”

-“Hell no, that thing looks ridiculous”

-“But I worked so hard on it! It looks like Kickass!”

-“And that’s exactly why I hate it, sorry mate but I’m not using that BS”

-“Come on! Just once, please?”

-“No, I’m going to bed, see you tomorrow”

-“*grumble* At least take some of the cookies I made”

-“No sugar before sleeping!” You say as you go upstairs, and no more words were exchanged that night.

 

As you reach the top of the stairs, you look at the trophy case next to it. It’s filled with Vic’s PHDs and Sharie’s ribbons ant trophies from competitions and tournaments. The bottom shelf is yours, it is filled with black belts for almost every Martial Art and trophies from Martial Arts competitions, there’re so many in fact, that there is no more space in it, at the very back, covered by some of the trophies, is your high school diploma... You stop looking at the case and head down the hallway to your room. You take off your shoes and are now walking in just your socks, you remove you hoodie and shirt, leaving you in just your pants and you jump onto the bed and sink into the pillow. You turn off the lights from the extra switch that Vic installed next to your bed and now you’re left in the darkness of your own room. As you slowly drift to sleep, you start thinking again of the girl and that ghost. What did that girl do to piss that thing off? What was she talking about judging people and her wanting something that doesn’t exist? This is too weird, you’ll have to find a moment to talk to her later and right now you’re too exhausted to do anything.

 

(…)

*beep beep beep* goes the alarm clock as it rings on the night stand next to your bed, and *slam* goes your hand onto the snooze button. You open your eyes and lift yourself from the bed; you yawn so hard you hear your jaw crack, and stand up to do your business in the bathroom. Take a bath, brush your teeth, pee, flush, brush your hair and go back to your room to put on your clothes.

It’s been a whole month since, and your constant trips to the library have yielded no results so far on the identity of that ghost girl.

You peek through the window of your room to the house of that girl, she’s leaving for school. You still haven’t talked to her, I mean, how do you even approach her? “Hey, remember that time at the park? With the ghost chick? Yeah, what was the deal with that?”

You finish putting on your clothes and head downstairs, you find Sharie and Vic making breakfast, French toast, excellent!

 

-“Hey, good morning” You tell the both of them

-“Oh, hello sweetie! Catch any ghosts yet?” Says Sharie with a smile on her face        

They know you’ve gotten into paranormal business, but they still don’t know of what you saw back then.

 

-“You sure about that? Maybe he’s possessed and doesn’t want us to suspect a thing!” Vic says as he puts his hands to both of his cheeks, like the “Scream” painting.

 

            You all keep joking like this throughout breakfast. When you’re finally done with it, you go back upstairs, put on your shoes and hoodie, and head back out. “Library?” Asks Vic. “You guessed it” you respond, and without further ado, you leave the house. It doesn’t take you long to reach the library on a bike, makes you wonder why people don’t stop being lazy bums and actually exercise for a bit you know? In you go and head straight for old newspapers, maybe you’ll find something of value this time? You don’t even know who you are looking for after all, the only thing you have is a vague recollection of the face.

            Now upstairs, you see a kid in front of one of the computers, it’s that same kid you see every Wednesday, which is weird because he should be at school, as far as you know. You ignore him for the time being and head for the newspapers… but for some reason, you decide to ask the kid, if he is here so often he’ll know more than you right? You approach him and cough at his side, with him jolting from the surprise.

 

-“Apologies, I didn’t mean to scare you”

-“N-no worries it’s alright” He has a strong accent… Russian?

-“Say, I know this might be a bit of a personal thing but, being a weekday, and the fact you’re still wearing your uniform, shouldn’t you be at school right now?”

-“Oh, that. I-it’s just that today I have gym class and after… some incidents, I have been excused from it” He seems a bit nervous talking to you.

-“Not an illness I hope?”

-“Oh no, nothing like that. It’s just… I don’t really get along with the other boys”

-“Well… Sorry for that then, I just got curious seeing you here every Wednesday morning”

-“Do you perhaps come here every day as well?”

-“Well yes, but I’m mostly holed up in either the mystery or fantasy sections. Right now I’m looking for microfilms, I’m looking for something really old but the newspapers are too recent”

-“Huh, Deja Vu?”

-“Excuse me?”

-“Oh nothing! It’s just that a friend of mine said the same thing not too long ago, are you also looking for a murder?”

-“Maybe? I’m looking for a young girl, about yay high, pale skin, maybe committed a murder or died violently, not really sure to be honest, all I have is the face to go by honestly”

-“Emily Reilly?”

-“Like I said, all I have is the face, maybe if you showed me what your friend was looking for?”

-“Of course! The films are this way!”

 

            After taking you to a side room of the newspaper section, he leads you straight for a specific microscope, and in no time shows you the article of Emily Reilly.

 

-“Wow, mother of coincidences, this is the girl”

-“Right? I was kind of shocked when you asked for it. It just was too similar”

-“Hmmm, say, let’s try to see how far we can find coincidences. Is your friend a girl, reaches to my shoulders, pale skin, black hair, maybe recently broke her hand, lives in Strogan street?”

-“Wait, you know Anya?”

-“Well bloody hell, maybe this is the mother of coincidences. It’s just that I live on that same street and accidentally ran into her not too long ago, she dropped a picture, and this girl, Emily, was the one on it. She didn’t say much, just something about a murder or whatever, and because I like a good mystery, I wanted to check on it. I didn’t know her name though, Anya… not one I’ve heard before”

-“That may be because she’s not from the United States, she’s from Russia. So am I actually”

-“Yeah, I could tell by your accent you are not from around these parts. Nothing against it though”

-“Don’t worry about it”

-“Say, I don’t think I’ve even introduced myself. Name’s Thomas, what’s yours?”

-“I’m Dima! I study at Hamilton private school!”

-“Hamilton? Didn’t that place rank among the lowest quality schools of the state?”

-“Yeah, well, it’s just that my family can’t really afford much else… Plus, I got there on a scholarship which included moving here, so it’s not like I could refuse it”

-“Well, good for you then… I kinda miss school”

-“Why’s that?”

-“I graduated 3 years ago, I was 13 then… And before you ask anything, yes I skipped grades, no my family didn’t bribe anyone”

-“Wow, that must be great!”

-“Sort of, but not really. It’s a long story but let’s just say that right now my life is pretty boring, and I don’t enjoy something enough to want to study it in college”

-“Hmmm, well, it’s not like I have given much thought into college myself, or university for that matter”

-“Don’t worry about it. Say, I kinda have to leave now, if I see you here again, how about we chat some more?”

-“Sure! Why not?”

-“Ok, cool. See ya later kid”

-“Bye Thomas!”

-“Call me Tom, I find it more comfortable”

 

(…)

            Well then, that was an interesting development. So she’s Russian? You knew they weren’t from the country, but maybe too many action movies ruined what to expect from other countries. On your way home you actually run into Anya at the park’s entrance, she’s talking to some old guy as she goes in, you have the impulse to follow them, apparently there’s some construction going on… wait, are they sealing the well perhaps?

            And as you follow them, your suspicions are correct. They are as a matter of fact sealing the well, and Anya just went off to the side behind some trees, followed by some other dude… girl? An androgynous kind of person. You decide to leave right now, there’s nothing for you to do here. As you finally get back home it’s already past lunchtime, your stomach rumbles like an earthquake. You park your bike back into the garage and head for the kitchen.

            “Hello? Vic? Sharie?” You find a note at the kitchen counter “Lunch’s in the fridge, just reheat it. Also, WEAR THE SUIT! –Love, Vic” Oh for the love of… You reheat the food, spaghetti and meatballs, and chow down while watching some TV, the rest of the day is spent doing basically nothing at your house.

 

(…)

            It’s the morning after. Not much else going on, you found the identity of the ghost and found out that your neighbor is called Anya, so… case closed? But no, something else is nagging at the back of your head, now that you started, you can’t seem to stop thinking about it. You have developed an interest in these kind of things, the supernatural kind. You always thought they were just superstitions, but with the events that day? You need something more. You get ready to go out and head straight for the library. As you are walking right in front of your house you hear Vic calling from inside “Are you gonna walk there today?!” “Yes, I just want some different kind of excerci-” *WHAM* you run into someone as you are yelling back at Vic. You stand up quickly and ask “Oh my god, I’m so sorry, are you ok?”

            Then you notice who you ran into, Anya herself. “Ow…” She says, still sitting on the floor surrounded by a bunch of books. “Oh lord. I’m so sorry, let me help you out” you start picking stuff up when she suddenly stops you, “No, it’s alright I got it” “No, I insist, let me help” you extend your hand to help her up, and she reluctantly takes it.

 

-“…Thanks”

-“No need, I’m the one who ran into you… Here, all of your books”

-“Thank you. Erm… sorry but I have to go now, don’t want to miss the bus”

-“No worries, see you later”

-“See you”

 

            And she leaves without further ado. Well, you handled that as best you could you guess… You still have to find a way to ask her about that day at the park, and about Emily. You stop staring at her, dumbfounded, and head for the library again.

 

(…)

            It’s nighttime, you spent the whole day reading things about the occult, and for some reason, you enjoyed it more than you would have a mystery or fantasy book, maybe it really did get to you? You leave the library and start walking home, you want to pass by the convenience store to buy some junk food for your personal stash, it’s been running low lately. As you reach the store, you see a familiar face, Dima, accompanied by some old lady, his mom? You walk in and approach them.

 

-“Heyooo!” you say to them

-“Oh! Tom! Hello, how are you doing?” says Dima

-“I’m alright I guess, been reading the whole day, feel a bit lethargic”

-“Hm? And who might this be?” Says the lady, in an almost impossible to understand accent

-“Greetings young lady, my name is Thomas, but you may refer to me as Tom. I am a friend of Dima here. And who might you be? His mother perhaps?” You say in an exaggerated friendly tone.

-“Ohoho! Quite the looker! I am indeed Dima’s mother, nice to see he finally got some friends from around here!”

-“Well, yeah, I just saw him often at the library and decided to talk to him one day. Don’t know if you could call that a ‘friend’ but he seems like a cool guy I guess?”

 

Dima is visibly embarrassed by this conversation, it goes on for a little bit, with his mom trying to convince you to hang out more with him and try to get him to be more social and stuff. They leave after a bit, apparently only came here for a couple things, and now that you got all of the things you wanted to get, you are standing in front of the clerk. “Your total is 80$” he says, you go to pull out your wallet, when two people in sky masks burst through the door and pull out a pair of pistols.

-“Everyone down!” says goon #1 to the rest of the store

-“Where’s the money?!” asks goon #2 to the clerk

 

            Oh boy, this again? It isn’t the first time this store has been robbed now, and it also isn’t the first time you’ve stopped it either. You take a careful look at the gun… it’s an airsoft gun, but it is painted pretty realistically, so kudos for trying. Since you refuse to move, they start screaming at you, “I said on the floor!” shouts #1, “Dude, if you’re gonna rob a store, at least get a real gun”. “Don’t fucking joke with us, I’ll shoot you I swear!” shouts #2. They’re obviously not going to budge like this, you focus for a second on #1s wrist, you quickly reach out with blinding speed, and in a single motion you break his wrist causing him to drop the airsoft gun, you kick his right leg to knock him on his knee, grab him by the head and slam it against the counter. One down, one to go, who seems to be extremely scared at you now. He tries to run, but the clerk already activated the emergency lock, and as such, you approach his back, with your left arm you hold his, you put your right arm around his neck and with your right leg you kick him in the back of the knee, causing him to fall as well. You hold him in that position until he passes out from the lack of oxygen and drops to the floor.

 

(…)

            The police arrived, took your declaration, took away the robbers, you get thanked by the clerk and some of the people inside and get a few free bags of chips, and a lot of other things you paid for since you came here for a lot more things than just some chips. Like previously mentioned, this is not the first time this has happened, even the cop that came to the call was the same one from all the other times, you’re buds by now.

 

(…)

            Another week has passed, not really much worth of noting has happened, you are still reading things about the supernatural and occult, you can’t seem to stop. You still haven’t been able to talk to Anya, you haven’t really thought much about it since all you do is go to the library or spend time at the park, however...

You wake up at your usual time, do your usual things, eat your usual breakfast, crack your usual jokes, but today, you’re not going to the library. You found on the internet some old store that specializes in occult things, and you thought it would be a good idea to ask them… things, just general things about the supernatural, maybe get your fill for the day over there rather than from some dusty books. You leave on your bike as usual, but as you pass the bus stop, you notice someone sitting there, alone. It’s Anya, you look at your watch and notice that the time for the bus that goes to her school has already passed, it seems she missed it, also, the next one won’t be for another 30 minutes. An idea pops into your head, you approach her. You hesitate for a minute after noticing her blank stare to nothing, but you go ahead anyways. “Hey there!” You tell in a friendly tone, but it seems she got startled anyway.

 

-“H-huh? Oh, hi”

-“You alright? You looked a bit distant there, something on your mind?”

-“No, it’s just… too many responsibilities I guess…”

-“How so? What could a high school student have to do that would be so soul sucking?”

-“*sigh* Just… things ok? I’d rather not talk about it right now”

-“Mhmm… Say, is your name Anya by any chance?”

-“Ehhh, do I know you?”

-“No, but I do know Dima, do you?”

-“Oh, that guy. Are you friends with him or something?”

-“Kind of, I see him at the library a lot. He seems to spend pretty much all of his free time there, kinda sad to be honest”

-“Well, I don’t blame him, he’s been the target for a lot of pounding recently…”

-“I noticed, doesn’t seem to have many friends”

-“…Hey, wait a minute, I do know you!”

-“Really now?”

-“You ran into me some time ago didn’t you?”

-“Yeah, and I apologized for that”

-“I think I saw you leaving one of the houses of the street. Do you live here?”

-“I do actually, that same house is my home”

-“Really? And how is it I haven’t seen you all that often? Don’t you go to school?”

-“Yeah, the reason for that is because I already graduated”

-“…Excuse me? Graduated?”

-“Yep, exactly what I just said, 3 years ago, back then I was 13”

-“What?! You’re joking”

-“Not really, I just skipped a lot of grades to be honest. It wasn’t anything too mind blowing, I just have pretty good memory”

-“…I’m sorry?”

-“Photographic or Eidetic memory, I’m able to recall absolutely anything after only seeing it for just a second”

-“…I still think you’re joking”

-“I’ll show you the degree later. However, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. This whole being already over with school is… actually rather boring. I don’t have much to do and college doesn’t appeal to me to be honest”

-“And how is that bad?! That must be amazing, surely?”

-“Not for me it isn’t. Like I said, it’s rather boring, I have nothing to do for the time being and college doesn’t really sound appealing, I have nothing that really interests me enough to want to study it. Plus, if I managed to skip so many grades just because I have pretty good memory… Isn’t that a flaw in the education system?”

-“I don’t think I follow…”

-“Like, the point of education is to make you smarter right? Teach you new things, teach you to analyze, speculate, and things like that. But if you breeze through everything just because you memorized the answers at the back of a book, did you really become smarter? I’m sorry, I think I went a bit too philosophical there”

-“Well, alright Nietzsche, I get what you mean”

-“Hey, I haven’t really introduced myself yet have I? Name’s Thomas, Thomas Rochesteire, though you can ignore that last one, I know it sounds very pretentious”

-“*Snicker* There’s not really much I can complain about it though, my last name is Borzakovskaya”

-“Borzakovskaya… Did I get it right?”

-“Wow, you’re the first person besides my own mom and Sasha to get it right. Don’t tell me you also speak Russian?”

-“Только немного, Это не очень хорошо, хотя” (Just a little bit, it’s not very good though) “How’s that?”

-“Oh wow… I-I mean, not like I can say much but… yeah, sure!”

-“Thanks, I kinda stopped practicing ages ago, but I still remember some things…”

 

            The two of you continue chatting for a while, you manage to cheer her up from whatever it is that had gotten her so stressed so that’s a win. Eventually her bus arrives and she has to leave. “Say, how about we hang out later? I mean, we live just a couple houses away from each other…” you ask her as she gets up from the seat. “You know what? Sure, why not?” She says as she gets on the bus. “Cool, see ya later!” And with that, she leaves on to school, you think. And now that that’s out of the way, you go on your merry way to that weird store of the occult.

            It is as you leave that you notice something odd, her smile. For some reason, her smile kept popping up in your head and it wouldn’t leave for hours on end… huh.

 

**-End of Chapter 1-**


End file.
